The Financial Times reports that journalists expelled from China and based in Taiwan say that China is like throwing stones at its own feet, and that Taiwan is gaining visibility and international support by welcoming these journalists who have fled China.
The Financial Times reported that more than 20 journalists left China across the Taiwan Strait to be based in Taiwan last year, many of whom have published articles critical of Beijing authorities, including human rights abuses against the Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority in Xinjiang, and the poor prevention of the Wuhan pneumonia outbreak at the start of the epidemic.
The Republic of China government welcomed them in good faith, a move that angered the CCP. Swedish freelance journalist Jojje Olson, who has been based in Taipei since 2016 after being denied entry again by Beijing, said Beijing’s response to critical reporting poses a risk to the Chinese Communist regime.
As journalists fleeing China continue to arrive in Taiwan, they will be exposed to more unfavorable views of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Olson, adding that “the Chinese Communist Party’s expulsion of a large number of journalists is like throwing stones at its own feet.
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international press freedom organization, said, “Beijing is certainly not happy to see journalists to go to Taiwan.”
He said the Communist Party is sensitive to foreign media presence in Taiwan, and said that two years ago a leading newspaper was warned not to set up a regional headquarters in Taipei.
Beijing had said that if the newspaper insisted on pushing ahead with plans to expand its location, its original base in Beijing would be forced to close.
Beijing retaliated last year when Washington blacklisted journalists from official Chinese media and expelled The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post from China. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, who were expelled from China, arrived in Taiwan one after another.
RTE’s China correspondent Yvonne Murray and her husband, the BBC’s China correspondent John Sudworth, arrived three weeks ago after the Chinese authorities threatened to take legal action against him for his reporting on Xinjiang.
Hong Kong used to be the first choice for journalists covering China from afar, Yono said, but after the Communist Party implemented a national security law in Hong Kong last year, Taiwan took over the role previously played by Hong Kong. Yono argued that nowhere else in the world do they follow developments in China as closely as in Taiwan, saying that figuring out what the Chinese Communist Party is up to is a matter of survival for Taiwanese.
Taiwan claims that both the government and the private sector are well informed about Chinese affairs, and that there is no time difference between the two languages, but there are inevitably some limitations to reporting on China from across the strait, such as journalists facing difficulties in getting interviews and stories that give a more nuanced picture of China.
The lack of personnel to assist them makes their work even more difficult, as those employed by the international media are fellow journalists and researchers in China who also face more serious legal consequences and lack the privilege of using foreign passports.
In addition, foreign journalists in Taiwan often run their assignments without the support of a bureau, as media executives worry that setting up a base in Taiwan will anger the Chinese Communist Party. According to industry sources, Tokyo and Seoul are seen as alternative options for setting up East Asian headquarters.
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